Friday, August 23, 2019

Conflict in Sri lanka - Essay Example Recent absence of a full scale war and ceasefire had been of great value in this direction resulting in Government's concentrating on welfare measures and popular policies, much needed by the island country. It has also achieved the greatest goal of safeguarding quite a few innocent and misled lives. Unfortunately the violence has increased since then threatening to spread and spill over. When all other countries are marching towards better reforms, Sri Lanka had been languishing in civil war without any end or peace in sight and this aspect has literally put a stop to its further growth as a welfare state. The tropical island considered to be a paradise once is like a death trap today.. There were no doubt other players earlier in the Tamil insurgency and most of them were only demanding a better deal for the Tamilians, for which they were definitely entitled to. Today, Jafna area has only tamilians, while Srilankans avoid the region for fear of LTTE. The entire region is cordoned o ff by LTTE and is literally ruled by them. LTTE is facing the international accusation of recruiting children to its ranks, which is true. It is either feared or loved by local Tamilians and they help LTTE, willingly or under duress, by giving them information, saving them, running errands, keeping them informed of the army movements and thus, protecting them from every disaster. It is not easy to point out an exact date for the commencement of genesis of Tamil militancy. Tamil militancy in Srilanka has taken many forms and hues. Apart from a small minority of local Tamilians, a large number of Tamils migrated from the Southern Indian State of Tamilnadu (erstwhile Madras State) during British rule to work in the tea plantations of Ceylon (now Srilanka) and over the years, there set in a feeling that they had been conveniently and systematically ignored by the Government and rest of Srilankan population, politically and socially. Srilankan population had been predominantly Buddhists, a peace loving, friendly and cooperative lot, not very prone to frequent conflicts. With the tamilian youth being frustrated and disheartened, it was left to a charismatic leader to establish his sway over them and mould them not only into a fanatic fighting group, but also to establish personal supremacy and power and this is exactly what Vellupalli Prabhakaran did. There were cr ies and demands for a separate Eelam and Srilankan Government had put down such demands in a rather clumsy way earlier. When a terrorist movement was launched in 1970s, Srilankan Government was short-sighted enough to inflict loss of life, property, and atrocity on not only fighting Tamilians, but also on the innocent people, who had no aspirations of political supremacy. Tamilians were a minority, asking for their rights from the majority population of the country. Government was a bit undecided on the issue, as till then, Tamilians were seen more as a lower working class, than equal partners. Understandably, their demand for a sovereign region was put down. Tamilians made the mistake of asking for their legitimate demands mixed with a free Eelam. They would have been definitely successful, if they had asked only for the right to be considered and treated in par with the rest of the population. Government, disturbed by the Eelam demand, hesitated to give in, thinking if small deman ds were granted, bigger ones, especially the Eelam demand would follow and this